25 December 2013-
Merry Christmas everyone!!!!
Okay…so I'm a month-and-a-half late …but better late than never, right?
(shaking head in shame)
This year we went light on the Christmas cookie baking – I only made one batch of vanille kipferl (Austrian vanilla crescent cookies) and Mark made one batch of fudge (while the girls were decorating the Christmas tree).
However, we couldn't NOT make our Santa cookies (especially since we carefully hauled the Nutter Butter cookies from the USA). This year we didn't have the white chocolate chips the "recipe" calls for so we decided to use a sugar glaze instead (powdered sugar with milk). Guess what? It's much easier to work with than using white melted chocolate and it looks just as great. And we like the taste better too. (I'll have to remember that for next year):
My favorite part about these cookies??? The girls can make them all by themselves!!!
The finished cookies:
Christmas Tree 2013 (probably looks nearly identical to Christmas Tree 2012…LOL!):
It's happy, cheerful, red, white and green!
The girls set aside some Santa cookies and a glass of milk for Santa on Christmas Eve (December 24):
I'm sure Santa enjoyed all of them!
Santa came! Santa came!!! Santa brought a few gifts for the girls.
Good morning Ava and Annika! Merry Christmas!!!!
The girls opening the box of gifts from Oma (which came to China via our friend Jessica. Thank you for your help Jessica!!!!)
Woo Hoo!!!! New robes for the girls!!!! Thank you Oma!!!!
Here's my gift from Annika – a pendant she created with Mark's help. Isn't it lovely??? It's just my color too! (I do love turquoise!)
Ava had one request from Santa this: she wanted a laptop. Sadly, both her parents and Santa thought this request was a little over-the-top for a 7-year old. Annika created this "laptop" for her using a box and paper. The "program" is a decorate the paper doll using the clothing and accessories Annika cut out and colored. I think it's extremely clever and thoughtful of Annika to make this for her sister:
Awwww….sweetness! (see, it's not about the amount of money you spend on gifts – it really is about the thought!!!!!!!!!)
(Amy, do you see your pendant banner hanging in the background???)
Here's another view of the "laptop":
Hahahaha!!!! Annika even found an Apple ™ sticker to put on the lid:
The girls got lovely pairs of earrings from their Auntie Beth and Auntie Margaret and cousins. The girls LOOOOOVE earrings!!!! Thank you!!!
Santa did bring a small handful of gifts too – Lego kits (and not the girly kind).
Ava already finished building her Lego dinosaur:
Thoughts on this Christmas:
This was our second Christmas here and it just felt …weird. Back home Mark would have gotten the day off work and we'd likely be in Michigan celebrating with family. It's strange that such an important holiday ends up feeling like any other day of the year. It's definitely something I struggle with – and figuring out how to make it feel like a special day when no one else is celebrating it. Definitely challenging. This year Mark worked from home so he could at least be with us. How could he miss Christmas Day morning with his family??????